Minestrone Soup

Ingredients

• Extra virgin olive oil
• 4 rashers smoked streaky bacon, finely chopped
• 1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 carrots peeled and finely chopped
• 2 stickes celery, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 440g tins good quality plum tomatoes
• 1 jar Jamie Oliver Red Onion and Rosemary Pasta Sauce
• 1 zucchini roughly chopped
• 2 440g tins cannellini or borlotti beans, drained
• 200 ml red wine
• 1 L chicken stock, preferably organic
• 200 g baby pasta or spaghetti, broken up into small pieces
• 75 g spinach, washed and chopped
• sea salt and ground black pepper
• Parmesan Cheese

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

Heat a lug of Olive oil in a large, deep saucepan on low heat and add the bacon, onion, carrots, celery and garlic.

Sweat very slowly, stirring occasionally until soft but not coloured, about 20 min.

Add the tomatoes, the jar of pasta sauce, the zucchini, drained beans and red wine. Give everything a good stir and simmer for 15 min.

After this time, add the stock and baby pasta. Stir and continued to simmer until the pasta is cooked - this will take about 10 min, depending on shape of pasta.

Add the spinachand stir until it's wilted down. If you think the soup looks a bit thick, add a splash more stock until you get the consistency you're looking for. Have a taste and season with salt and pepper. Serve drizzled with extra virgin olive oil with lots of freshly grated parmesan on top.